Announcements

With the rise of the Internet of Things, every industry is moving to constant connectivity thanks to the exponential increase of smart devices. Parking is no different. Years ago, drivers were at the mercy of their eyes and ears as they scoured the streets for an open and hopefully inexpensive parking space. Now, they can open up an app like ParkWhiz, compare parking garage rates, pre-book their space and forget about paper trails.

ParkWhiz enables companies to increase employee productivity and better manage a significant portion of their spend. The average business traveler isn’t hopping on a plane to catch a last-minute cross-country flight, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The majority of long-distance business trips in the U.S. are within 250 miles and taken by car. ParkWhiz enables users to conveniently make informed parking decisions, secure a guaranteed space and focus on what matters most with the time they save. With rates typically lower than drive-up or hotel options, ParkWhiz can also help companies reduce spend.

And it’s no surprise that the last thing anyone wants to worry about is filing expense reports. By partnering with Concur, ParkWhiz helps with that too. Now available in the App Center, Concur users can connect their accounts to ParkWhiz to automatically send e-receipts to Concur for effortless expensing. No more digging through your car or bags for your parking receipts.

What’s Next? The Connected Car

Why take your phone out when you can book a parking spot right from your car’s dashboard? Mobile-technology group GSMA predicts that every car will be connected by 2025. At ParkWhiz, we’re excited about the opportunity and are working with auto manufacturers to further reduce the friction involved in the modern driver’s parking experience. Whether in your pocket or in your car, having the ability to book parking at the touch of a button is a win for business travelers.

Visit the Concur App Center to learn more or to connect your account to ParkWhiz. To further support business travelers, our new product ParkWhiz for Business is in Beta; email elindemulder@parkwhiz.comfor more information.

Parking for Today’s Business Traveler: ParkWhiz Featured in Concur App Center was last modified: May 19th, 2016 by Aashish Dalal

We’re excited to tell you that ParkWhiz has been chosen by Xerox for itsGo LA transportation app, which integrates all available ground methods of transportation in Los Angeles. Go LA allows local residents and visitors to seamlessly navigate the heavily trafficked city in the second largest metro area of the United States. Go LA aggregates and calculates the time, cost, carbon footprint, and health benefits from walking, biking, driving your own car, parking, taking public transit, as well as the emerging private transportation options, giving users a variety of ways to reach their destination.

Through the app, ParkWhiz provides a fast and efficient way for drivers to find and book guaranteed parking spaces before reaching their destination. The app’s other partners include local taxi cab companies, ride-hailing services Lyft and car-sharing service Zipcar, city and county mass transit, and Flitways, an online-pre-booking travel service.

“When thinking of a parking partner for this app, ParkWhiz immediately came to our minds because it is innovative and easy to use,” said David Cummins, senior vice president, Mobility Solutions, Xerox. “ParkWhiz is the perfect partner because it allows us to provide another level of seamless travel experience for our users that prefer to drive themselves and want an easy parking choice.”

“The advancement of transportation technology is giving consumers more options than ever to get where they need to be. At ParkWhiz we are using technology to eliminate the uncertainty that can come from parking in big cities such as LA. Drivers get a guaranteed space, know where to go and know what it costs to park – creating an intelligent parking ecosystem that makes driving as easy as taking a cab, ride share or public transportation.”

The Go LA app is now available for iOS and Android systems in the Apple and Google Play stores atwww.golaapp.com.

Xerox Partners with ParkWhiz to Bring a Seamless Parking Experience to Los Angeles was last modified: March 23rd, 2016 by Sam Christie

Today, Visa Inc. announced it was making the Visa Token Service available to auto manufacturers, helping to pave the way for easy and secure car-based commerce. To further advance car-based commerce, Visa is also offering a range of related digital payment solutions, including new standards for Bluetooth (BLE) and QR codes that could help expand enablement of mobile payments for both merchants and consumers in any environment. As payments shift from plastic to digital, technologies built with Visa Token Service, provide an ecosystem of payment partners – from auto manufacturers to point of sale (POS) providers and beyond – a streamlined way to offer commerce and payments anywhere there is an Internet connection. We’re excited to tell you that we are partnering with Visa on their car-based commerce initiatives to bring a parking app concept to Mobile World Congress.

Car-Based CommerceIn partnership with Honda and ParkWhiz, Visa will demonstrate fuel and parking proof-of-concept apps at Mobile World Congress, February 22-25 in Barcelona, Spain (Hall 6, Exhibit Booth 6D40). Developed by Honda Developer Studio and fully integrated into Honda’s head unit, the fuel and parking proof-of-concepts are designed to bring greater simplicity and convenience to services and tasks consumers do every day. Both apps showcase Visa Token Service and feature Visa Checkout, Visa’s online payment service offering simple, one-touch payments. Additional features include:

Fuel App Concept: Pay for gas in one click without leaving the car. The fuel app detects when the car is low on fuel and navigates the driver to nearby gas stations. Once parked next to the pump, the app knows the exact amount of gas needed to fill the tank and can calculate the cost to fill up. The driver can also purchase convenience store items with full integration of discount and loyalty/rewards programs.

Parking App Concept: Just park your car, push the ‘park’ button on the app, and go. Designed in partnership with ParkWhiz for off-street parking spots, the parking app helps a driver pay only for the time used and helps avoid under- and over-paying. Once a parking session is ended, the elapsed time and amount paid are shown on the car’s dashboard, requiring the driver to simply press a button to complete the transaction.

By 2020, there will be an estimated quarter billion connected vehicles on the road*, making connected cars a significant element of the Internet of Things (IoT). Visa demonstrated car-based commerce as an industry-firstat Mobile World Congress 2015, when it showcased how in-car payments could simplify ordering food at a quick service restaurant. Over the last year, Visa has continued to test and evolve in-car payments, including showing how to simplify the process of leasing or buying a car, or even managing services like auto insurance or road tolls, directly from the driver’s seat.

“The notion of transforming a car into a platform for payments is not as far off as some may think, and we have made a great deal of progress since first introducing the idea one year ago,” said Jim McCarthy, executive vice president of innovation and strategic partnerships, Visa Inc. “Working with Honda to test these prototypes gets us another step closer toward commercial reality, which we think provides exciting opportunities to everyone who plays a role in the payments and automotive ecosystems.”

“This project demonstrates how apps can truly transform the in-car experience while creating new opportunities for automakers,” said John Moon, developer relations lead for Honda Developer Studio.

“At ParkWhiz we are very focused on creating a frictionless, and of course safe, parking experience for drivers,” said Aashish Dalal, CEO, ParkWhiz. “Eliminating the need for drivers to take tickets or check out at pay boxes is a giant step toward a frictionless experience and a big win for drivers. ParkWhiz is thrilled to be partnered with Visa on this ground-breaking innovation.”

The companies currently expect to test the fuel app concept in Northern California and the parking app concept in New York City, both over a three-month period, starting this spring.

* Gartner, January 2015

Visa Extends Secure Payments to the Automotive Industry was last modified: March 31st, 2016 by Sam Christie

We have some exciting news to share today. We’re thrilled to tell you that we’ve raised $24 million in Series C funding and acquired BestParking – the No. 1 New York City parking app . The funding and acquisition will allow us to rapidly increase our footprint, grow in the mobile space, and accelerate our product development.

Our new funding is led by Baird Capital with participation by growth capital investor Beringea and existing investor Jump Capital.

With our focus on providing drivers with a seamless and hassle-free parking experience and parking operators with efficient technology, we have grown to be the leader in the on-demand parking space. Bolstering that leadership even more is our acquisition of BestParking.

We’d like to welcome Ben Sann, founder and president of BestParking, and his team to ParkWhiz. The entire BestParking team is smart, creative and innovative, and we’ve continuously shared a combined vision to provide the best possible experience for our users.

The acquisition will give us the most comprehensive coverage in the country with more than 4,000 parking locations and over 800,000 spaces in over 50 major cities across the U.S. Together, we are the No. 1 booking platform and richest parking data resource in North America. We drove over $50 million in revenue to parking operators in 2015, with more than 1 million bookings in New York City alone.

If you haven’t already, you can download ParkWhiz in the App Storeor Google Play to book your space before you leave your house and your parking spot is guaranteed to be waiting for you. If you’re using your mobile phone, you have the added benefits of door-to-door directions, a mobile parking pass and special discounts.

We’re excited about the year ahead.

ParkWhiz Raises $24 Million in New Funding and Acquires BestParking was last modified: February 12th, 2016 by Sam Christie

If you visit our website today, you’ll notice something different. Actually, most everything is different. We’ve been doing some thinking. We’ve hiked through forests, swam in lakes, taken in city sights and sounds from the Bean in Chicago to the Empire State Building in NYC, to every nook and cranny of our happy spaces. We’ve discovered something about ourselves.

ParkWhiz isn’t about just finding a parking spot. It’s about experiencing the world. Once we figured that out, we went back to the drawing board. And we’ve come up with some changes. Like our logo.

Ta-da!

Our home page:

The way our emails look

A preview of our new welcome email

and much more.

We still have the same affordable spots. We’re still going to get you where you need to go. From center ice to center field, to doctor’s visits, to business meetings–we’ll take care of the parking so you can get on with your adventures, big or small.